There are a variety of methods for enumerating particles, such as cells in a biological sample. Determining the number of cells per unit volume in a sample provides the physician important diagnostic information. The most elementary method of counting cells consists of introducing a diluted biological sample into a hemocytometer and examining it with a microscope. A hemocytometer is a device with an optically clear chamber having a known depth, typically 100 microns, and ruled markings to define a unit volume, typically 0.01 μL. A uniform mixture of diluted whole blood, for example, may be introduced into the hemocytometer by capillary action to form a monolayer. Using a microscope to visualize the diluted sample, cells of different types can be counted manually in a limited number of marked areas. Counts are aggregated to compute the number of cells per unit volume. This manual method is time consuming, tedious, and requires a skilled technician to operate the microscope and to recognize the various types of cells, and is prone to error. Its accuracy is limited by the number of cells counted and the homogeneity of the monolayer formed by introduction of the diluted sample.
Consequently, automated methods, such as impedancemetry (Coulter principle U.S. Pat. No. 2,656,508) and flow cytometry, have been developed for rapid counting, sizing, and classification of a relatively large number of cells for diagnostic tests such as the Complete Blood Count (CBC) or CBC with a five part differential. These automated methods also have shortcomings. The analyzers are relatively large and expensive and require skilled operators for their use and maintenance. Such analyzers are typically available only in centralized laboratories. Blood samples are collected in special containers having an anticoagulant to keep the blood from clotting while being transported to the lab. This process adds costs and risk of erroneous results from transport, handling, labeling and transcription, as well as a time delay in obtaining the results.
The CBC generally includes measures of white blood cells (leukocytes) per unit volume (WBC), red blood cells (erythrocytes) per unit volume (RBC), platelets (thrombocytes) per unit volume (PLT), hematocrit (HCT) or packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (HGB), and measurements related to red cells including mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin content (MCHC), and red cell distribution width (RDW). A diagnostic test referred to as a “CBC with differential”, also known as a “CBC with five part diff”, will also include Neutrophil granulocytes (NEU), Lymphocytes (LYM), Monocytes (MON), Eosinophil granulocytes (EO) and Basophil granulocytes (BASO) per unit volume or as a percentage of the white blood cells (WBC). The CBC with differential also may include counts of Immature Cells (IC), nucleated Red Blood Cells (nRBC), and Reticulocytes (RETIC) per unit volume of the blood sample.
The CBC provides a panel of blood cell measurements that can be used to diagnose a wide variety of abnormal conditions, such as anemia or infection, or to monitor a patient's treatment, such as chemotherapy. Because of its usefulness, the CBC analysis is one of the most commonly performed diagnostic tests in medicine, but patients typically wait a day or more for results. If microscopic cell analysis could be performed in a portable, easy-to-use, analyzer close to the patient, results could have a more immediate impact in improving patient care. A simple system able to provide the CBC in the physician's office, or at bedside, or in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) or Intensive Care Unit (ICU), within a few minutes and using a drop of blood from a finger-stick, could have enormous impact on the delivery and affordability of health care.
Recent patent documents have described simpler devices than centralized lab hematology analyzers for performing cell analysis of blood samples. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,771,658, issued to Larsen, the applicant, provides technology for performing a flow-cell analysis of blood cells in a single use disposable cartridge. Larsen describes means for taking an exact amount of blood sample, diluting the amount of blood with a precise volume of diluent, and mixing the blood with the diluent to obtain a homogeneous solution. Larsen utilizes a single use cartridge to flow a measured amount of the mixture of sample and diluent through an orifice at a rate of several thousand particles per second, and counts, sizes, and classifies the particles for analysis in accordance with the Coulter principle. Because Larsen's disclosure is directed to the analysis of a small sample of whole blood, errors in metering various volumes or in the mixing or sampling steps can significantly impact the accuracy of the results.
PCT Patent Number WO 2014099629 issued to Ozcan et al. describes a system for analyzing a blood sample with a mobile electronic device having a camera. The sample preparation process for each test requires accurate measurement of 10 μL of whole blood to be mixed with 85 μL phosphate buffered saline and 5 μL of nucleic acid stain. Ten (10) μL of this diluted mixed sample are then loaded into a cell counting chamber with precise channel height of 100 μm and are imaged by a digital camera. A separate cell counting chamber is needed for analysis of red cells, white cells, and hemoglobin, and each test should be performed separately. Accuracy of the final result is not only dependent on the accurate measurements of the various sample preparation steps, including the precise metering of the sample and diluent, but also on the precise fabrication of the counting chambers. Maintaining uniformity and consistency of the 100 μm dimension of the channel height in a disposable cartridge is difficult to achieve in a low cost device.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,837,803 to Wang et al. describes a method for determining cell volume of red blood cells, which seeks to avoid the errors associated with diluting, mixing, and sampling, by analyzing a sample of substantially undiluted whole blood. In theory this approach has appeal, but the handling of undiluted whole blood is challenging. The cells are so numerous (for example 5,000,000 red cells in 1 μL) that their distribution can be impacted by contact with the surfaces of a disposable cartridge. Additionally, in order to image cells in this overcrowded environment, the imaging chamber should have a depth of only a few microns to prevent the overlapping of cells, and it should be fabricated accurately, because it determines the volume of the blood sample being analyzed.
Therefore a compact, accurate method of performing microscopic cell analysis using digital camera imaging of a diluted sample, which does not require accurate measurement of the diluent volume, or require accurate or precise dimensions of an imaging chamber, is highly desirable.